


A faint clap of thunder

by uxiumin



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Chinese Mythology & Folklore, First Meetings, Human/Spirit relationship, Inspired by Poetry, M/M, Spirits, Urban Fantasy, i don't know how to write summaries, inspired by Cathy's prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25569961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uxiumin/pseuds/uxiumin
Summary: Whether rain comes or not.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	A faint clap of thunder

**Author's Note:**

  * For [melodyoficeandfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodyoficeandfire/gifts).



> In case you haven't noticed I don't know how to summarize! Welcome!

There are millions of different spirits living in the universe. Some of them crave violence and destruction, while others only seek a happy life as any human would. Some live in the stars, making the Astros shine bright and clear for us, and others live underground celebrating parties at the Earth's core, dancing in a pool of melting metals and lava-like a human would do with a pool of water. 

Speaking of water and humans, many of these spirits live among humans, and most of them live their lives unnoticed, whether they have cheeky, neutral, or good intentions humans simply can't or won't see them. It has to do with an important aspect of human nature: a mixture of ignorance and self-entitlement that leads them to think that they are the only intelligent species living on their little blue planet. 

But, from time to time, that changes. Jongdae knows this too well. As an emissary of Ying Long, the mighty sacred dragon responsible for rain, snow, and droughts, Jongdae's work consists of taking care of those feeling helpless under the rain. Of course, many humans feel like that under the pouring drops and Jongdae is only one rain spirit, but he does his best to help those he gets to reach. 

There are humans that seem to bloom under the rainy weather, their inspiration and mood improve and the perspective of not leaving their homes makes them smile warmly. But, Jongdae has learned that not all humans are like this, while many seem to flourish others sink. 

Sometimes the incessant sound of drops falling against the ground, the puddles, and gray skies make some humans sad and gloomy. Jongdae has witnessed how rain and storms can remind humans of heartbreak, old better times, or to make them think of people that are no longer around in their lives. Others simply get moody with the water, especially if they have forgotten a raincoat or an umbrella. 

These are the cases Jongdae has to cover, he reaches as many humans as he can during a raining period and he simply stays with them. He sings to those humans with afflicted hearts under the rain hoping that, when it stops, the sun shines brighter for them too. To Jongdae the worst part of his work is the 'final touch' as he calls it. He must erase any memory of his presence from the human's mind and let them go on with their lives. From time to time, some of them leave his side with a melody still lingering on their heads... and that's enough appreciation for him. 

Or it used to be. 

During humid and long summer Jongdae found a young man standing under the pouring rain in the middle of an electric storm. Jongdae put aside many other help requests just to attend this one: his instincts were telling him that something was off. 

He flew across gray and black clouds, getting damp and feeling thunder clashing right behind him. When he touched the ground, his clothes had already changed to a more actual outfit for a young-looking man in Seoul instead of his spirit robes and long silky overcoat. Carrying an umbrella, he walked through a park until he found the man in question. His black undercut hair was already damp, as much as his colorful blue shirt that made a great contrast with the gray scenery. 

Jongdae approached with care, trying not to startle the human. He hates when that happens and humans take Jongdae for some creep. 

"Hello, can I help you?" - Jongdae asks once his umbrella is sheltering the human from the cold drops. 

"Help me?" - the human asks back, his eyes still focused on the ground, his soft voice a little strained. "Unless you are some kind of genie that grants wishes I don't think so." 

Jongdae chuckles. "Luckily for you, I am" - Jongdae nods, the human finally looking at him with a pair of beautiful and sharp almost black eyes. "I'm Jongdae, an emissary of Ying Long, the Sacred Dragon of Rain, a rain spirit here to alleviate your pain." 

"My pain? Ying Long?" - the clearly looks baffled whit all the information. "Are you crazy? I don't have time for this." - he says with resolution, leaving the protection of the umbrella. 

"No, wait!" - Jongdae calls for him. "You'll get soaked." 

"Breaking news: I'm already soaked!" - the human answers leaving with an even more hurried pace. "I have to find Tan, I don't have time for freaks!" 

"Tan?" - Jongdae asks following the human, almost running behind him. "Who is Tan?" 

"My cat!" - the human yells. "We were going back home from the vet, but the door of his carriage opened and he ran away! I saw him entering the park, but it's too big and he could be anywhere, soaked and scared, and..."

The words kept coming from the desperate human that was on the verge of crying. Jongdae knew that this was, somehow, out of his job description but seeing so much desperation and powerlessness made his heart clench. With a swift movement, Jongdae hugged the human that left his body to be encircled by the spirit's arms. 

"Don't cry" - Jongdae whispers, putting as much of his power on his words as he can. "We'll find Tan, don't worry." 

The human broke the hug, blushing and shocked, but his voice sounded less desperate. "Who are you?" 

"I've told you already! An emissary..." 

"Of the dragon Ying Long, a rain spirit here to alleviate my pain' - the human repeats with a clocked eyebrow. "I'm not buying that." 

Jongdae took a second and then had an idea. With a snap of his fingers, his clothes changed back to his usual. The long blue coat, his robes, and the hair bun tied with a golden hairpiece with a single sapphire, a gift from Ying Long himself. "Would this make it more believable?" 

The human, agape, and his eyes almost out of his place walked around Jongdae inspecting everything he had seen. Jongdae had never changed clothes like this in front of anyone, he had never felt the need to demonstrate who he is to any human... But he isn't bothered by it, the cute sight makes it worth it. "I guess it does" - the human finally states. "I'm Minseok, by the way." 

Jongdae nods content. "Minseok, let's find Tan, shall we?" - offering his hand he watches how Minseok, still doubting a little, accepts the offering with a shivering hand. If Jongdae could he would dry his clothes and skin. 

Minseok was right when he said that the park was big. It's enormous, and lush, and filled with tall bushes, kiosks, and many other places where a scared cat could be hiding. None of them had stopped calling for the car or searching him until an hour later they started hearing a moan for help resonating in the distance. Tan, with all of his fluffy white hair completely soaked, was sitting next to an artificial lake in the middle of the park, shaking. Minseok bolted to get Tan, that as soon as he saw his owner jumped to his arms, licking his jaw visibly happy. Minseok was on the verge of tears, a sunshine smile on his lips that could dissipate any rain Ying Long put over his head. Jongdae felt himself staring at it for way too long.

“So this is Tan” - the spirit finally commented approaching the cat on Minseok’s arms. “Don’t do that again, your owner was scared to death.”

Minseok chuckled with a lighter expression. “I’m so glad we found him… Thank you.”

“Me? I didn’t do anything” - Jongdae answered shocked.

“You searched with me under this pouring rain for at least an hour. That’s more than enough, and I’m sure that rain spirits are busy on rainy days.” 

“Maybe…” - a certain shade of blush appeared on Jongdae’s cheeks. He was glad of choosing this particular job, he had made the human happy which is his final goal… but now a weight started to show inside his heart. As soon as the job is done, he must go. He has to make Minseok forget about him. Jongdae wondered for a second if this ugly feeling would force any other rain spirit to come down and make him happy. “It was...my pleasure.”

“You don’t look happy at all, Jongdae” - Minseok commented. “Are you okay?”

“I must go now, busy day as you said.” - Jongdae didn’t want to do it, he was hating every single movement of his hand. He hates the touch of Minseok’s forehead under his finger, his lost and sharp eyes wanting to ask a thousand questions, how close they were standing, and especially his magic leaving his body like a tickle to enter Minseok’s brain and delete any contact they’ve shared.

But it has to be done. 

A thunder crashed to the ground right before Jongdae left Minseok’s side. With the loud crash and the purple lights like nerves spreading over the grey sky Jongdae vanished. 

But not the memories of him. The thunder made Jongdae withdraw his finger from Minseok’s forehead way too soon. And now Minseok was in the middle of a park with his cat on his arms and the feeling that he had witnessed something he shouldn’t have.

“Jongdae?” - he asked, looking at the now lighter rain still falling. “Jongdae?”

The human looked around, his soaked hair was starting to get into his eyes, and his shoes made a funny noise every time he moved, but the most unnerving thing was the feeling of uneasiness, of being left behind. He met the spirit just today, an hour or so ago, yet the human was feeling odd. Something twisting inside of him whispering to his brain that something went wrong. 

The rain stopped, and the grey clouds started moving away leaving behind the first traces of a clear blue sky.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


It’s been a month, and many of Minseok’s friends have run out of “crazy” synonyms to call him.

Of course, Minseok isn’t so naïve to tell them about the rain spirit that helped him found his cat on the way back from the vet that day, but he has started to act weird. Since then, Minseok is constantly checking the weather reports, constantly looking at the humidity values and celebrating when they go up. And, of course, every time there’s rain in Seoul or nearby there he goes, umbrella on hand as if he was chasing something...or someone.

That’s the part no one understands. He is chasing someone, a rain god or spirit that only appears to help those that are disgraceful under the rain. And that’s the part he’s failing to fulfill. 

Besides that particular day, Minseok is not disgraceful at all. He has a good job, a nice boss, enough friends to never feel lonely, and his relationship with his family has always been supportive and loving. And, of course, he has Tan.

He had tried thinking of the time his first cat died, or when his grandfather got really sick, or that time he failed a subject in college after the worst exam ever. But none of those worked, and none of those moments will ever work because they were in the past and Minseok has no current tragedies in his life. And that’s a tragedy itself.

Minseok yelled to himself while standing under the rain next to his car in the middle of nowhere, a lonely highway outside Seoul. “I’ll never summon him again!” - Minseok kept hopelessly looking at the rain. There should be a way to call back the rain spirit, there has to. But to be honest, Minseok is starting to lose any hope, he doesn’t even remember the spirit so well, only a few things remain on his memory, enough to make him certain that Jongdae exists.

His cat-like smile, his melodious voice the first time he talked to him, the sadness inside of his eyes when he left and electricity running wild across his body as if the thunder that brought them apart crashed directly over his head. And the weird, twisted feeling, that the end of their encounter left inside of him. A bittersweet aftertaste.

“Maybe my tragedy is that I’m chasing the rain.” - Minseok said to himself, suddenly feeling a strong wave of desperation hitting him.

Why was he chasing the spirit so hard? Because he can’t remember him properly? Because he felt amazed at the idea of an otherworldly creature looking after him? Because the rain had lost its meaning after their meeting? Minseok isn’t sure, and crouching over his knees, his transparent umbrella still covering his head from the inclemencies of the weather, he watched the little drops falling on a nearby puddle. One by one the drops vanished, fattening the puddle more and more. There’s something hypnotic in water, Minseok can’t take his eyes away from it, but his thoughts are still anchored in the same place. 

Cold started to hug him, maybe some water landed on his back from the umbrella...or maybe his frustration was starting to get the best of him.

“How do you catch water so it stays still for a second?” - the question left Minseok’s lips, and the answer came right after.

“With a dam”

Minseok jumped, automatically standing up like he had a spring on each one of his feet. There he was, the rain spirit again with his cat-like smile and melodious voice. “Jongdae!” - Minseok screamed excitedly. What Minseok wasn’t expecting was the shock on Jongdae’s face.

“You remember me?” - Jongdae, in any of his many many years of service, committed a mistake like this one. Leaving a human with fresh memories of their encounter is dangerous, but at the same time, he can’t say that he isn’t glad of seeing Minseok again. “How do you remember me?”

“I don’t know, I simply do! Well, part of you, I don’t really remember what happened the first time we met but I’ve looking for you like crazy to discover that!”

“You...you’ve been looking for me?” - now the spirit was not only shocked but also flattered, his cheeks blushing. This is a first time for him, no human ever remembers him, no one looks after him. The change is… nice. 

Minseok nodded effusively. “Yes! I’ve been chasing rain to see if you showed up! But then I remember that rain spirits only appear when someone miserably is standing under the rain…”

“If I’m there it’s because you are miserable…” - Jongdae kept saying bitterly. “What’s wrong this time? At our first meeting, you lost your cat in a park.”

“So that’s what happened…I think I remember now” - Minseok mutters to himself. “I’m not sure. I was just here...looking at the water when…”

“You suddenly got sad?”

“Frustrated” - Minseok sighed, with a blush that admitted his defeat. “I wanted to see you again, but...I thought that I would never will.”

During all these years of unrelenting work, Jongdae, not even once has met a human like Minseok. Not to mention that this is also the first time that someone gets sad because of him. Or frustrated. The way the human’s words concern and warm him at the same time makes him giddy. Jongdae wonders if Minseok is the otherworldly creature rather than himself. “Don’t think about that, I’m already here.”

Minseok nods, but a tint of sadness is still lingering on his eyes. “Why did you vanish like that? Did you erased my mind?”

“I...I have to” - Jongdae admitted, ashamed of his work for the first time in forever. “Humans aren’t supposed to remember rain spirits or they’ll get sad on purpose to see us and make us fix their messes.” - Jongdae approached to Minseok, and trying to ease the gloominess he booped the human’s nose. “Just like you did.”

Minseok half-smiled, and with a pout he answered. “I wasn’t faking it, I was actually sad!”

“Didn’t you say that you were frustrated?”

“Whatever!” - Minseok replied, a smile betraying his pout. “I wanted to see you, that’s all.”

“Why?”

There was genuine curiosity on Jongdae’s question. Maybe Minseok’s answer will also answer Jongdae’s own questions. Why every time he attended other human’s requests he wished it was Minseok? Why the moment he saw Minseok crouched under his umbrella his heart skipped a beat? Why did he wish for rainy days more than usual because they were a chance to see the kitten-eyed human? Why his work seemed now so boring if he is not helping some human to find his cat?

“I’m not sure, but, the moment you left me… It felt awful. I saw this amazing thunder beaming in the sky and you were gone like you were never there. And I think that I could’ve been nicer to you but I was under a lot of pressure, and I think that I could’ve introduced myself better, or give you my phone, or offered you a cup of tea for the help…” - Minseok’s words felt flat for a second. “But I did nothing, and you were gone. And on top of that, you are a spirit!” 

Jongdae had to take a whole minute to answer. Deep down, the human answered his questions. “I didn’t judge you, you weren’t rude at all that day. Yes, I would’ve loved a better introduction on your part, but you were under a lot of pressure. I don’t have a phone...I’m a spirit” - Jongdae shrugged, causing Minseok to chuckle. “But I would absolutely love a cup of tea.”

“Really?”

“Really. Spirits never lie.”

“You just made that up”

“Well, at least this rain spirit never lies” - both of them laughed. 

“Wouldn’t it be a problem? You said that humans shouldn’t remember rain spirits” - Minseok asked concerned.

“As long as you don’t use that information to summon me every time it rains, we’ll be okay.” - Jongdae shrugged it off. Ying Long has a lot of other things to worry about as to concern himself with one rain spirit having a cup of tea. Or two.

Minseok nodded. “I promise I won’t use that information wrongly” - his smile was enough reassurance for Jongdae.

“I can’t stay now” - Jongdae informed him. “This was supposed to be a short call and I can’t take long but… wait for me. I’ll be here with the next storm.”

“When will that be?” - Minseok asked out of the blue, grabbing Jongde’s silky clothes in an attempt to make the spirit stay a little longer. 

“In two days” - Jongdae caressed Minseok’s soft hair, slightly wet on the sides. “As soon as you hear the rain on your window prepare tea, and I’ll be there” - the spirit laughed, visibly calming the human.

“I will” - Minseok promised with a pink blush spreading over his cheeks while his hand left Jongdae’s clothes. “Are you only able to leave the spirit realm when it rains?”

“I usually only leave the clouds for work matters. But I think tea is a good reason to see the human world under sunshine.” - Jongdae smiled as brightly as his heart dictated him to do. Minseok’s questions were endearing, mostly because the underlying message of said questions concerned him too. Every single question of the human was a “When will I see you again?” rephrased and cautiously hidden under naïve curiosity and a smile. Jongdae adored it. “See you soon, Minseok” - Jongdae finally waved goodbye.

“See you in two days.” 

The thunder that roared among the clouds this time didn’t surprise any of them, however, the subtle kiss on Minseok’s forehead did. It surprised Minseok for obvious reasons, so much that he forgot about the rain or his umbrella, that was now flying away from him at the mercy of the wind, but it also surprised Jongdae because he couldn’t believe he had been brave enough to do it, and he couldn’t contain his heart jumping like a wild horse inside his chest.

Even if Ying Long changed his mind and cancels the storm scheduled, even if none of his coworkers and friends accepts his missions for that day, even if it snows, even if it’s a sunny day...Jongdae will have that cup of tea with Minseok. Whether rain comes or not. 

  
  
  
  


_ “A faint clap of thunder  _

_ Clouded skies _

_ Perhaps rain will come  _

_ If so, will you stay here with me?" _

_ "A faint clap of thunder  _

_ Even if rain comes not, _

_ I will stay here,  _

_ Together with you” _

_ \- Hitomaro Kakinomoto - _

**Author's Note:**

> *casually drops this little thing here after a severe writing drought*
> 
> Hey, if you are seeing this message thank you for reading! It's been a while, I know. I've been deleting my own works, I know. I haven't been writing, I know, I know... but, here we are! Cathy inspired me, or more like she wrote a prompt so cute that I had to develop it a little!   
> Check it [here!](https://twitter.com/melodyofxiudae/status/1285771356982767616)
> 
> The poem, a tanka, is from the movie "The Garden of Words" by Makoto Shinkai, originally written by Hitomaro Kakinomoto. Tankas are a form of traditional Japanese poetry, originally they were a way to deliver short messages between lovers, so the first part is a question one part of the couple asks, and the rest is the answer of the other part. They were meant to be cryptic, only the lovers really knew what they were talking about.
> 
> I will appreciate every kudo or comment! And please, be gentle, I'm still a little sensitive. 😅


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